ammaisan(peak) 암마이봉

686 meters

3.7 km return

📍trailhead

Andrew and I were itching to get away for a little day trip so we decided to visit Maisan Provincial Park in Jinan-gun.

Maisan is known as “Horse Ear Mountain” due to the unique shape of the two peaks standing straight up out of the landscape. Perhaps the most special part of this area is Tapsa Temple which is located in the valley between the mountains, nestled up against the base of the “female” peak. It really is a beautiful site to see, especially when the lanterns are on display for Buddha’s birthday.

We chose to take what seems to be the most popular route, which approaches from the north side. Our plan was to hike up “between the ears”, ascend to the peak, hike back down from the peak, and then continue on to the temple before returning back to the parking lot.

Map details starting at the top of the map:

• PINK: Our route to the peak of Ammaisan

• BLUE: From Ammaisan to the temple

• YELLOW: Eunsusa (temple)

• RED: Tapsa (temple)

• ORANGE: Our return route.

When exiting the parking area, you can walk straight, taking the road, or walk through the tourist street towards the right. It’s filled with restaurants and some stores. Despite being a sunny Saturday though, it wasn’t nearly as busy as we expected.

Once you reach the end of the street you will walk through a nice little park.

At the end of the park you will have to decide if you want to continue straight to the lake towards the scissors museum, or travel up a twisty road either walking or riding the shuttle bus. We opted to turn left and walk up the twisty road and by-pass the shuttle. Alternatively, if you go towards the scissor museum you can take a more direct route that consists of hundreds of stairs. (This was the route we took on the return).

Once you reach the drop off point for the shuttle bus, you will continue on a path that soon joins up with the long set of stairs that you avoided by taking the twisty road instead.

Approaching from the north side, will have the “male peak” on the left and the “female peak” on the right. From here we chose to hike to the top of the female peak, Ammaisan (the other peak is non accessible.)

You’ll start climbing up some stairs and get some views looking back at the other peak directly across from you.

Soon you will come to a small clearing before the real climb begins. Enter the trail to the left and prepare for a steep climb.

After just a few minutes, you’ll reach a fork with stairs turning in both directions. There are signs posted in Korean. Take the stairs to the left for going up (you’ll return on the right). This is because it is quite steep and rocky on parts of the path and would be dangerous to have people going in both directions.

There are some pretty incredible views looking back on Jinan as well as the male peak, along the way.

The trail is quite steep and there are safety railings going up. Take your time, this is not a trail I would recommend for younger children.

Soon you will merge back up with the people that are on their way going down. Keep on climbing and enjoying the view along the way.

Finally, you’ll reach the top!

The top has obstructed views for the most part, but there is a viewing platform behind the summit stone, so make sure not to miss it! There are some very nice views of the mountains in that direction and you’ll see the golden-roofed temple shining in the distance.

Heading back down, you‘ll continue straight down the stairs where you last merged. From here, simply follow the trail back down the mountain.

When you arrive back to the main clearing between the horses ears, you will notice that there is a cave on the opposite mountain. It’s only partway up the mountain, so you don’t have far to go, but it’s quite steep. It was just kind of meh in my opinion, but I still don’t like missing anything so we climbed up to see it.

Now…onto the temples! First you will climb down a loooooong set of stairs that I can assure you are more fun going down than back up.

The first temple you will come across is Eunsusa. This temple is quite pretty with the two peaks looming behind. But it’s Tapsa temple that is the real showstopper.

Continue on down the hill and it’s only a few more steps to reach Tapsa! When you first see it, it really is a sight to behold. Snuggled up against the base of Ammaisan, Tapsa has tons of stone pagodas piled high.

It’s a neat feeling walking though the paths that weave up the to top of the temple grounds.

After you get your temple fill, you can simply return the way you came. We opted to go down the stairs and pass the scissors museum for a more direct route, rather than taking the twisty road back down.

This was such a great day trip for us and even though we have lived in Korea for many years it was our first time visiting. I really recommend adding this to your Korean travels bucket-list. It’s especially beautiful around Buddha’s birthday when the lanterns are up!

I’m so fortunate that Andrew enjoys putting together little videos of our adventures. So for more of a feel of our day, check out the video, too!